PARTICULARS PHOTO OF THE MONTH

PHOTO OF THE MONTH
PARTICULARS
AMA Charter 331
Website: peoriarcmodelers.com
PRESIDENT:
Joe “The Fantastic Languini” Lang
jow.a.lang@comcast.net
VICE PRESIDENT:
Jon “Dew Drop” Dewey
dew6483@yahoo.com
SEC/TREAS &
FACEBOOK:
SAFETY:
A great photo of Air Force 1 taken by my
friend Gary Karl at the Peoria Airport last year.
Jim “Smokin-Jimmy” Fassino
Phone: (309) 361-6828, jfassino@me.com
Jim “Hollywood” Hogan
Phone: (309) 370-6901, wildblue62@gmail.com
WEBMASTER:
Terry “The Flamer” Beachler
(309) 696-0035, terry@beachlers.com
MAINTENANCE & GROUNDS
Roger “Pod Man” Stegall
(309) 229-0054, rogerstegall@hotmail.com
EDITOR:
Bob “The Great Wilsoni” Wilson
(309) 219-4262, wilsorc@gmail.com
AMA CONTEST DIRECTORS: Bob Wilson, Jim Hogan, Jim
Fassino
Flying Field Location
The flying field is located off Old Galena Road, ½ mile north of the
Caterpillar Technical Center on the west side of the road.
GPS Location: N40 51.844’ W89 33.788’
Flying Hours
Flying hours are 8am until dusk, Monday thru Friday, Saturday and
Sunday.
Membership
Club dues are $100/year. All members and flyers must belong to
the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). A $100 new field
assessment will be initiated for all new club members in 2011.
Beginning in 2012 the new field assessment will expire.
General
We are committed to having fun and the safe operation of model
aircraft. The Peoria RC Modelers is an equal opportunity, not-forprofit organization and welcomes all new members.
Flight Instruction
The Peoria RC Modelers offers flight instruction as a free service to
anyone requesting it. Contact a club officer for further information.
Gary zoomed in for this one and if you look close
into one of the windows you can see Obama
repairing his teleprompters. Not really, but a great
photo anyway.
4 Star Pylon & “Fat
Lake Speed Run”
S
ummers coming and this looks like
an exciting year for pylon racing. Many
of us have racers and several are being
built. I understand that the “Pringle-Star”
will be the next speed threat to come off
the assembly line.
The “Pringle Star” looking Bad!!
Watch out Tommy!
Besides club racing, I'm hoping this will
turn out to be a big spectator event. Bryan
Chumbley has agreed to MC each race and
he'll do a great job. In addition, I hope
each contestant will jazz up their airplane
as much as possible with pilots, logos and
decals. I love the idea of the pilots taking
race names and naming their airplanes.
Let's see, there's “The Fantastic Languni”,
“The Great Wilsoni”, “Tommy Cutter”,
“Klondike Joe”, “Dew Drop”, “Retracts
Howard”,
“Gorgeous
George”,
“Fergasaurus Rex”, “Smokin Jimmy”,
“Hollywood Hogan” “Gepetto” and “Pod
Man”. Now we have airplanes with
names like “Dew Star”, “Pringle Star” and
my latest “Dread Sled”.
This will give Bryan lots to talk about
between races.
Name this flier!
New member, Jim White, is also building a 4Star. Unfortunately, Jim doesn't have a flight
name yet.
There have been several
suggestions but none have stuck; “White
Out”, “White Knight”, “White is Right”,
“Mighty Whitey”, “Out of Sight-White”,
“White Fright”.
Something will come up.
***
Now, here is something new. A story sent in
by our illustrious president, Joe Lang. As you
know Joe has a new 4-Star and he's itching to
fly with the big boys. He relates a somewhat
delusional story that makes me think we ought
to consider his mental competence.
Here it is.
“A Ghost in the Shop”
I have a big build going this winter - a 100"
Stinson SR-9 Reliant. I am really enjoying the
build and it is going quite well. Although I
wish I had more time to move the project
along a little faster, I do think it will fly
sometime this spring. However, something
strange has started to occur in my workshop.
As many know, projects like this can result in
very long afternoons or evenings in the shop
and I have had a couple of those over the
last month or so. On one of those
evenings, I thought I was going absolutely
nuts. I swore I could hear a tiny little
voice coming from the area where my
airplanes are stored. I could not make out
what is was saying, but the message kept
repeating and had a very distinct rhythm
to it: "__ - __ - __ - __ - __ - ___." I
decided at this point that I had been at it
way too long and went off to bed for the
night.
A couple of days later and after a couple
of intense hours building, it happened
again. The exact same voice coming from
the same location. Only this time I could
make out two of the words. "Let's - __ __-some- ____-____." After completely
freaking out and thinking my next stop
was a padded room, I packed up for the
night and got some sleep. I was not able
to re-enter the shop for several days. I
had a few theories: Was I really nuts?
(plausible), inhaling too many fumes from
the glue? (plausible)... and a couple
others. But none of the theories really
added
up.
The following weekend, I finally gathered
up the muster to go down and confront my
demons head on. Things went well for the
first couple of hours - finished the left
wing of the Stinson and started on the
right. However, the voices were back
again. This time a little louder and
coming from the corner where two
airplanes are stored. One is an Extra 330
and the other is my newly built 4-Star 40
which is all prepped and ready to go
racing. I could make out yet another word
or two: "Let's-go__-___-____-butt" . At
this point I was at my wits end. I am
either nuts ... or there's a ghost... or...
WHAT IS GOING ON?! After a few
minutes of listening, I decided it was time
to find out once and for all... I started
walking over to the corner where the voice
was coming from. As I got closer, it was
getting clearer, louder, it almost sounded like
a chant.... I was certain that it was coming
from the cockpit of the 4-Star. The little Luigi
character... the pilot... he was mouthing the
words.... the message was now very clear:
"LET'S GO KICK SOME WILSONI
BUTT!"
.
Racing season can not get here soon
enough! Get those 4-Star's Ready!
Bob Wilson (and a great Fairy Tale
by Joe Lang)
J
anuary 1, 2012 saw a display of indoor
combat at its best. Shortly after lunchtime of
our “First-To-Fly” event, indoor combat was
launched. By the term “launched” I mean to
say that pure craziness began. The first heat
saw 5 different competitors, each trailing a 16’
length of crate-paper. The task was to snip,
cut, tear the streamer of another plane while
protecting the length of paper attached to
your plane. Three points were awarded to
the pilot who cut another streamer while
the plane with the cut streamer was
immediately out of that heat, keeping any
points accumulated prior to his/her cut
streamer. Any pilot who flew the entire 3minute heat without landing and without
getting his/her streamer cut was awarded
one point. The action drew a chorus of
“OOHs” and “AHHHHs” from spectators
as different foam planes darted in near
proximity to cutting streamers and other
planes to shreds.
The action was
infectious as verified by the fact that 2
more competitors joined in the fore for
heat #2.
Yup, 7 planes were
simultaneously pulling an accumulated
112’ of crate paper in a space not much
bigger than two dozen porta-potties. At
the end of round #2, there remained 5
planes that still resembled some type of
flying contraption. When the dust had
settled, our Past-President, Scott Ferguson,
proved to be the winner from having
amassed 11 points. Scott scored 7 points
in the final heat from cutting 2 streamers
and keeping his crate paper at its original
length.
Scott attributed his talent for
successfully flying in a reckless manner,
from all the flights he has made with his
Raptor 22. I believe Scott has now put his
Raptor up for trade for two hot dogs and
any past issue of “Quilters Monthly.”
Roger Stegall
FROM THE PREZ
H
opefully everyone had a safe and happy
start to the New Year! PRCM definitely had a
great start with the New Year's Day "First to Fly "
event at the Mid-West Soccer complex. Jim
Fassino chaired the event again this year and,
along with his team, put on a fantastic day.
Although there was no outdoor flying due to 35
MPH winds, there was plenty of action indoors.
A lot of open flying, Roger Stegall's traveling
hobby shop, competitive events, good food... a
great day! In addition to the flying fun, the
drawings and silent auction were a big success for
the club. A very special thanks to Jim and his
team for organizing the event and also to all that
attended to enjoy the fun. Great Job!
Please make it a point to try and join us for our
club meetings on the first Tuesday of every
month. Our next scheduled meeting is February
7th at Friday's across from the Grand Prairie Mall.
These meetings are a great chance to catch up
with all of the activities in the club, chat about
winter projects and enjoy a little time with the rest
of the club members. Dinner is at 6:00PM and the
meeting will start at 7:00PM. This month's
meeting is an important one. Jon Dewey is
working on a proposed schedule for the year's
major events and we will get a chance to review it
and start to put together teams to begin working
on the events. It is never too early to start
planning and we would like to see as many
participate as possible. The bar has been set
pretty high in previous years for our Open House,
Family Day, New Years Day and other events.
Let's get started early and make this year's events
even better! Please consider volunteering to help
with any of these efforts.
Also, remember our annual club banquet is
scheduled for February 23rd, 6:30PM at
Alexander's Steakhouse in Peoria. Please
RSVP to me either by e-mail or telephone as
soon as possible. Honored guests and
significant others are welcome! Just let me
know how many when you RSVP. This was a
great time last year and we would like to see
even better attendance this year. Along with a
good meal, we will be handing out our annual
awards to recognize special contributions to
the club and its members. Jim Fassino also
agreed to put together the slideshow again this
year. Please get him any digital photos or
videos you would like to see in the show
ASAP. This was a huge hit last year and the
more material we have the better.
FROM THE VEEP
"The life of an Air Traffic Controller"
T
he job often sucks, but we love it and wouldn't
think of doing anything else.
We are rarely
appreciated by anyone outside of our profession.
We hold more lives in our hands in one average shift
than a surgeon does in their entire career, yet I have
never heard of anyone calling for hospital to hire
cheaper surgeons.
Finally, keep those winter projects rolling! I
am looking forward to seeing a lot of new
airplanes at the field this spring!
Ironic then, there is always an undertow of sentiment
that implies controllers are overpaid. It's kind of like a
cheap Southwest pilot- under perfect conditions (level
flight, ideal weather, mechanical, fuel and on
autopilot) the lowest bidder will probably do just
fine!! Funny thing when that flight hits bad weather,
gets low on fuel or sucks a bird into the engine and
lands in the Hudson River, all of a sudden, people
want an expert at the controls, It is the same with
ATC, you get what you pay for!
Pilots don't understand us or even listen sometimes
but they rely on us to save them when they misjudge
their fuel, get lost, "lose" their map or approach
plates, need to avoid bad weather, have an unruly
passenger or an equipment malfunction or a host of
other stuff the public rarely hears about. you don't
hear about this stuff, because it almost always turns
out well, you only hear about it when we screw up.
For Jim, Terry and J.D, be assured I already know you
want to be #1 in the sequence, so does every other
pilot. Someone has to be last and some times we
are giving priority handling to another flight.
sometimes you can tell by the :Lifeguard" call
sign, and sometime we are not at liberty to
explain.
People thing I am the guy on the ramp with the
flashlights directing the plane where to park.
We are responsible for knowing more rules than
humanly possible and those rules are subject to
daily changes.
We want to always be in control. We want to
control everything in our environment. We find
ourselves controlling the traffic at a four way stop
or at an out of service stop light. We can not stand
the little old lady that will not go when it is her
turn!!
When one of us fails we laugh at him. When one of
us succeeds we don't acknowledge it. I find myself
controlling the pattern at our field from the lawn
chairs.
And now we can't even sleep while we are at work!!!
Indecision is unacceptable in any scenario, and
imperfection is not tolerated, even a read back
error at a drive thur restaurant annoys us.
We expect people to say what they mean and
mean what they say. Once a decision is made, it
is to be acted upon immediately.
Our work arrives at 450 knots and we are
expected to get it right the first time, every time.
Most of us look 10 years older than our age and
act 10 yrs younger. We don't know what normal
sleep patterns are, we work in the middle of the
night, and on Christmas, on every holiday,
weekends, and on your birthday, on our birthday
and on our families birthdays.
We never have "normal" days off. It is hard to
participate in our kid's school activities.
Working for Uncle Sam will never make me rich, but
he takes good care of me. I love my job and I could
not see myself doing anything else..
I am looking forward to seeing all of you at our
upcoming annual banquet. Keep working on those
winter projects, spring is right around the corner.
Jon Dewey
Congressional Representatives will be the most
likely course.
The AMA will notify the association's members as
soon as the proposals are released by the FAA.
Keep and eye out because we are likely to see the
rules released by early spring. Brian Chumbley,
our AMA Assistant VP, is the inside guy and will
most likely be ahead of the curve on information
when it is released.
See you in March and see you in the lawn chairs.
Jim Hogan
H
ere we are in the dead of winter and it
seems like spring will never get here. It's a
good time to open up the AMA website and
look at the new safety rules the AMA has
issued. There are no changes to the rules we
use at the field, but it is always a good idea to
review them before we head out to the soccer
club or the flying field.
FAA/AMA
As you know, the Federal Aviation
Administration is about ready to release the
proposed regulations to Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles. (UAV's) The AMA has assured us
the upcoming regulations for model aircraft
are designed to improve safety and not
regulate model aviation because of threats to
national security. However, regulations are
likely to effect our hobby. After the proposed
rules are released, the public will have 90 days
to respond with comments. Although the
avenue to respond to these proposed rules in
still unclear, it is most likely comments to our
“Random Thoughts”
Club Annual Dinner - Pictures and Video
Last call for you share your pictures and video for this
years PRCM annual dinner. The deadline is February
7, 2012. Please bring your video and pictures to the
February club meeting or send them by e-mail. The
more pictures and video we have the better. Thanks
for your help.
Indoor Flying
Indoor flying continues every Friday evening through
the end of March 2012. the fun begins at 8 PM and
continues until 11 PM for just $10. Even if you don’t
have an airplane to fly you should consider joining the
fun. There is no charge to watch.
E-FEST 2012
If you are looking for RC fun consider attending EFEST 2012 in Champaign on February 11 & 12. Flying at the Armory is a real pleasure with the high ceil-
ings and large flying area. You will see it all from
pylon racing to aerobatic competition to night
flight and combat. Its only $25 for two days of
flying.
Toledo 2012
Mark you calendar for the 2012 Weak Signals
58th Toledo R/C Show. This year the show runs
from April 13 through 15, 2012 at the SeaGate
Centre, Toledo, Ohio. Everyone knows there are
hundreds of R/C vendors but wait there is more.
There are lots of swap shop tables for you to sell
you extra gear or buy someone’s treasures. Not
far from the SeaGate Centre there is indoor flying
and you can watch the best pilots in the world
compete at the Electric Tournament of Champions.
ness about our club, come to the February club meeting and share your thoughts.
Jim Fassino
CLUB PHOTOS
Peoria Air Show
The 2012 Peoria Air Show will be known as the
PNC Air Show. New this year is the plan to hold
the event on the Peoria river front on June 8 and
9th. This might be a great venue for the Peoria
RC Modelers to participate. If you think this
might be an opportunity to increase public awareJD Keenan (Capt Crunch) mans the desk at “First to Fly”
(FTF) event
Roger Stegall, our camel merchant, mans his table of wares at
FTF.
This is one of the stranger craft at FTF. I call it “The
Marvelous Toy” after an old Peter, Paul and Mary Song
with lyrics:
It went “Zip” when it moved
and “Pop” when it stopped,
“Whir” when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was
and I guess I never will.
Steve Blesin walking his balloons at FTF
Jim Fassino flying “The Marvelous Toy”.
“Chummer” did a great job with the sound system.
A runaway aircraft that crashed into the pits caused this
destruction at FTF.
Joe Board hoovering.
Roger Wheeler, a big winner at the
raffle drawings. Note Terry Beachler behind him.
Joe Board & Glen Howard Yuk it up
after Joe won at FTF.
The combat balloon pop.
Another big winner, Ron Pruess
At the January meeting Roger Stegall tries to articulate
directions to the mensroom. On the left, Roger Wheeler
looks confused and on the right Jim White has the giggles.
As usual, lucky Roger won
something...twice!
DEAR AMELIA
These are the rantings of ghost-writer Roger Stegall
taking the pen name of “Dear Amelia”. Other than the
physical copying from one medium to another, the
editor takes no responsibility in the blasphemy and
lunacy herein expressed.
Photo source: I'm not sure about this one but I think it came
from one of the so-called “Canada Fishing trips” that John
Hoelscher makes every year.
D
Amelia, I would like to know your opinion if I
should bring my best girlfriend to the annual
flying club banquet.
Sincerely,
Wanting to look Debonair
Dear Mr. Want-a-Be
If you are wanting to look sophisticated, what in
the hell are you doing in this flying club? Half the
guys wear old ball hats that should have been
retired with the hula-hoop. Don’t go the expense
of renting a tux because a clean shirt and socks
that match will put you in the upper percentile of
your buddies. Banquets are about having fun and
sharing with others the zany experiences that
happen when planes, radios and questionable
talent are thrown into the mix of wind and
Murphy’s Law. If you want a good laugh and a
good steak, you should plan to attend this yearend celebration of futility. If your best girlfriend
or significant other isn’t comfortable in such a
setting, save the $30 for a steak and buy yourself
another gallon of fuel. Fuel is good. Having to
deal with “an unhappy camper” is a wasted
opportunity to get more fuel.
Sincerely,
Amelia Airhead – Fueled & ready for action
ear Amelia,
Our flying club banquet is coming up next
month and I’m in a quandary to decide if I
should bring my “significant other.” I
mention this because past banquets have not
proven to be an ideal setting for impressing
the ladies with impeccable manners and
enchanting conversation. The last time I was
asked a weighty question from a club member,
the guy was interested to learn how many
grams were in an ounce. Our banquet facility
has the option to burn your own steak or have
some underpaid kid, still living at home, do it
for you. I’m not sure I’m ready to take the
responsibility for grilling a steak to perfection
without having a proper infrared thermometer
to access the interaction of heat and meat.
D
ear Amelia,
This past week the President Of The Unites States
delivered a State Of The Union speech to explain
to constituents, the condition of our financial,
social and outreach programs. I mention this
because I think it would be appropriate for our
President to deliver a State Of The Club address at
least once per year. During such a presentation
the Pres could give an accounting of (1) The
number of times the porta potty has been emptied
(2) The remaining inventory of Keurig coffee
flavors and (3) What proactive measures have
been taken to keep our resident mouse from eating
the insulation off the wires of our lawn tractor.
Amelia, do you think a “State Of The Club”
address would stimulate conversations within
the club to crystallize support for shared
responsibility and cohesiveness.
Sincerely,
Concerned for State of the Club
Dear State Of The Club Advocate,
In case you haven’t noticed, most of your
members consider “The State of Your Club” to
be -- Illinois. Decisions concerning fertilizer
application, road improvements and who will
wash the wind sock are usually made by a
dedicated minority of members who show up
at meetings and volunteer for projects nobody
else wants. Much of the other cohesiveness I
observe in your club has come from
unintended applications of CA.
Not to worry. There is a well known 80-20
rule that contends 80% of the work will be
completed by 20% of the workers. You club
can remain healthy without going to
extravagant measures to share minute details
during prime-time TV hours.
Most of
Obama’s presentation talked about the future.
Your club needs to develop a vision of a
“future state” and plot intermediate steps to
that new destination. One-year planning is not
an efficient route for growth unless you
happen to be a pregnant mouse who likes wire
insulation.
Sincerely,
Amelia Airhead – Your source for mousefriendly advice
REMEMBER! FEBRUARY'S CLUB MEEING AT TGI
FRIDAYS, ACROSS FROM “SHOPS AT GRANDE
PRAIRIE”. DINNER AT 6PM MEETING AT 7PM.
BRING YOUR SHOW & TELL!